A recent study undertaken by Cranfield School of Management showed that Post Implementation Reviews are, in reality, rarely undertaken to confirm that benefits have been achieved (26% of cases).

When viewed in conjunction with the fact that 45% of respondees admitted to overstating the benefits in order to get project approval it is hardly surprising that so few projects actually deliver the benefits promised or that 76% of all respondees said that there is scope for improvement in the process for delivering benefits.

An assure™ Benefits Review does not simply focus on the delivery if technical products, but also looks closely at the business changes that were identified as being crucial to the organisation’s ability to change and thus generate benefits by doing things better, faster or cheaper.

Benefits Review is not of the project progress (dealt with by the project methods procedures) but of the realisation of benefits.

Benefits rarely appear on Day 1 of a system, and some accumulate over quite long periods. In multi-phase projects the early phases often generate competencies and new skills that will be exploited in the later phases.

The assure™ Benefits Review will ensure that these capabilities have been achieved.

Further benefits can be identified at any time but should in any case be formally explored at the Review stage. Often at the end of a project the organisation has at its disposal a team who now know more about the topic than anyone else has ever known recently. Instead of disbanding that team it could be usefully employed to derive further return on investment.